A Muslim mother is taking legal action against her daughter’s school after a teacher told her that she could not wear the niqab on its premises, The Guardian reports.
Rachida Serroukh, 37, who is a mother of three, has launched a discrimination “test case” against the well-known Holland Park School in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea after she was told she could not wear the niqab on school premises.
Ms Serroukh is a devout Muslim who has worn the niqab for the past 14 years, was very happy when her 11-year-old daughter was offered a place at the prestigious school.
But when she attended a parents’ induction evening for new pupils at the school on Tuesday 13 June, she was surprised to be challenged over her decision to wear the niqab.
After a talk by the headteacher, Ms Serroukh – who is a qualified childcare assistant – was approached by a member of staff who requested to speak to her.
She was taken into a quiet room and told it was school policy not to allow the niqab on its premises.
Ms Serroukh told The Guardian: “I was already feeling uncomfortable because I had to leave my daughter standing on her own.
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“As the teacher was female, I lifted my veil when we were talking together in the room.”
At first Ms Serroukh thought that the teacher had misunderstood and believed her daughter would be attending school in the niqab.
“I explained clearly that my daughter wears a headscarf and would not be coming to school in a face veil. Then I realised she was talking about me not my daughter,” she said.
Ms Serroukh requested numerous times to see the school policy which stipulated that visitors were prohibited from wearing a niqab, as she was aware that a friend who also wore a similar face veil had attended school functions since 2012 without encountering any issues.
She claims that the teacher then asked her to leave the school via the rear exit, but she refused, stating that she needed to collect her daughter and would be leaving through the school’s front entrance.
Ms Serroukh wrote to the school asking for clarification on the face veil prohibition.
Guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) states that it is up to individual schools to decide about whether staff and pupils can wear face veils, but states nothing about parents and visitors in general.
In an email from the deputy headteacher Mr Ross Wilson to Ms Serroukh on Wednesday 21 June, he confirmed that the school did not have an official policy prohibiting visitors wearing the niqab.
Mr Wilson wrote: “It has not been necessary to date for the school to have this requirement stated in written policy. Given the concerns you have raised, we are now considering a written amendment to our health and safety policy to include this specific requirement and will follow the normal protocol of seeking the approval of the governing body.”
On Wednesday 12 July, Ms Serroukh replied: “How are you able to justify banning the face veil for all which come onto school grounds? I had shown my face prior to coming onto school grounds therefore security cannot have been a cause for concern.”
The next day, Mr Wilson stated it was a “health and safety issue” to be able to identify people on school premises.
Ms Serroukh’s, Attiq Malik of Liberty Law Solicitors in Luton, said his firm had drafted a letter to Holland Park School because it was a “straightforward” test case of discrimination on religious grounds.
5Pillars contacted the school for comment but they have declined to respond.
Kensington and Chelsea redirected the enquiry to the school.
However, in one of Mr Wilson’s email, he referred to Ms Serroukh’s side of the story as “factually inaccurate”.
